Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #301082 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Amazon.com Review
Can you fix your own neurologic problems without resorting to drugs? Science writer Jim Robbins suggests that some such conditions--like epilepsy, autism, and depression--could yield to a recently developed technique called neurofeedback. His book A Symphony in the Brain describes the process, its evolution from the 1970s fad of biofeedback, its practitioners, and some of its success stories. Using computers to quickly provide information on real-time EEG, practitioners train patients to control global or local brain states--or so the theory goes. Unfortunately for its proponents, there are still no rigorous research data showing conclusive results. Robbins makes a good case that the lack of research is due more to scientific turf battles and a drug-dependent medical establishment than to any fault of neurofeedback. Some of the case studies he explores, of children and adults brought out of comas or trained to reduce their epileptic seizure frequency, suggest that we ought to look more deeply and rigorously into the technique. Whether it works can only be determined by controlled studies, which may be forthcoming. In the meantime, Robbins provides contact lists and additional research information for interested readers, as well as the inspiration to pursue a potentially life-saving treatment. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly
If you thought biofeedback was a passing fad, freelance journalist Robbins will enlighten you. Far from a 1970s fringe treatment, neurofeedback (as it has been renamed) is being used to treat everything from autism and fetal alcohol syndrome to attention deficit disorder, manic-depression, stroke and menopausal symptoms. Despite numerous accounts of dramatic improvements of patients afflicted with a wide variety of conditions, the pharmaceutically oriented medical community is only now beginning to acknowledge its effectiveness. The treatment has been marginalized all these years because, like acupuncture, researchers don't understand exactly how it works. Robbins details the fascinating medical history of the therapy, tracing it back to French physician Paul Broca's discovery of the region in the brain where speech originates. At the heart of this riveting story are the people whose lives have been transformed by neurofeedback, from the doctors and psychologists who employ it to the patients who have undergone treatment. Robbins introduces Dr. Barry Sterman, whose 40 years of research supports the use of neurofeedback to treat epilepsy; Jesse DeBoer, who was born with severe brain damage and can now, at 19, function on the level of a learning-disabled person; and school principal Linda Vergara, who teaches grade school students to train their brains instead of using Ritalin to treat attention deficit disorders. Here, too, are the conflicts that have both enlivened neurofeedback and limited its use, much of which Robbins attributes to a lack of funding as he emphatically defends this promising treatment. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

still a great intro to neurofeedback
This is the first book I read about neurofeedback, when it had just come out and I was just going into training as a neurofeedback therapist myself. Now, seven years later, although I've read most of the books out there on neurofeedback, this is still the basic one I recommend to potential clients when they want to know what neurofeedback is, how it works, and how it might help them or their kids get or stay off Prozac, Ritalin, etc. or just have better moods, better focus, better health.

It's written by a journalist, not a scientist, not a therapist. It tells stories of people who successfully used neurofeedback to help them with brain damage, ADD, mood disorders, drug abuse, etc. It tells the story of the author himself getting neurofeedback therapy. It tells the history of neurofeedback and discusses why neurofeedback has had such a hard time getting accepted by the medical establishment. There is definitely a "Wow!" element to the book: "Can you believe this therapy works this well?", which is partly there because it enhances the story and partly because neurofeedback really does very frequently lead to amazing results. I find the stories interesting and the book compelling, well-written, and easy to read.

The book is not meant to be either an objective review of research or a technical manual for how to do neurofeedback. People wanting those will be frustrated by this book. Even if it had focused on technical aspects, the material would be out of date by now. Other books, web sites, and journal articles have these (and, yes, there is by now lots of research showing the clinical effectiveness of neurofeedback).

But for people wanting to understand whether neurofeedback might be useful for themselves or their kids, and what they might experience if they do neurofeedback therapy, I recommend this book highly.

Elizabeth Walker, Ph.D. www.seattleneurofeedback.com

A pass it on book.
There are so many people everyone knows that have issues that could be helped with Neurofeedback that this makes it an excellenct book to read and pass on. I did and have deceided to get neurofeedback for my daughter.

A Symphony in the Brain
This is a great book to let the reader know the general history and information about neurofeedback. However,this is an ever changing field and this book does not have current 2007 information about the industry. I found it really helpful for research purposes. Overall it is a 'must read' especially if you are considering becoming a practitioner.